The Dead and the Gone

by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Book Overview

Best-selling author, Susan Beth Pfeffer, delivers a riveting companion to Life As We Knew It in this enthralling tale that follows seventeen-year-old Alex Morales as he fights to survive in the aftermath of apocalyptic events in New York City.

Alex Morales is an average high schooler focused on his after-school job, helping his dad out with building superintendent responsibilities, and getting good grades so he can make it into an...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0547258550
• ISBN13: 9780547258553
• Release Date: January 2010
• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 8.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.8" x 7.1"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Very addicting read!

I'm in the middle of this series at the moment but really do enjoy it! At first I wasn't into much ..but by the end of book two I NEED the next! ..the order of books in which to read was confusing to me tho !

Heartbreaking

Loved this book!!! Such a warm story about faith and love...and sacrifice.

The best end of the world novel I have ever read, even better than "The Road"

I have read hundreds of end of the world books in my life, I have read 80% of all zombie books, watched dozens of movies on the end of the world. What I look for in a post apocalyptic book is realism after the disaster. Ironically, I always accept the premise which led to the apocalypse with no question, but am extremely demanding that the characters and the world around them deal with the apocalypse realistically. Americans have this naive, misplaced, idea that government is generally bad, and the importance of their own individualism. Most American post-apocalyptic fiction reflect this, having the government as either being destroyed immediately, or being incredible inept and making the crisis worse. The Dead and the Gone handles the collapse of society in a more realistic matter, a novelized version of the incredible British "Threads" film (1994). Consider The Dead and the Gone a prequel and superior novel to "The Road". The Road was incredibly, unflinchingly, realistic, I have never read a book that conveyed such utter realistic hopelessness as The Road. The author was honest to the reader, and never tried to shelter the reader from the Man and the Boy's ultimate fate. But like many post-apocalyptic books, "The Road" was years after the disaster, and as movie critics complained, the Man and the Boy skirted cities so the reader never really truly saw the full hell this family and by extension, the world, went through. The Dead and the Gone vividly shows the death of the world.

the dead & the gone

This is the companion novel for Life as We Knew It...so you don't really have to have read Life as We Knew It but it helps. the dead & the gone is about a 17 year old boy living in New York City when the moon becomes closer to Earth. And everything changes forever. At the time when it happens his father is away and his mother has to go work at the hospital. So he is left to take care of his two sisters, Bri and Julie. I love this series, they're intense because you don't know whats going to happen next and their sad. Theres never a dull moment in them. For those of you who have read Life as We Knew It this is a complete different book than Life as We Knew It and I highly recommend it.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too

Alex Morales is a 17-year-old Puerto Rican boy living with his family in New York. He has two younger sisters, Briana and Julie, and his parents, who he calls Mami and Papi. Everything is going pretty normally for Alex. He's the vice president of his school council and he's looking forward to getting into a great college. But in one moment everything changes. Something huge hit the moon and knocked it out of place. It's now closer to Earth, causing a lot of horrible changes, including tidal waves, flooding, blackouts, and overall panic. According to many people, the Earth is coming to an end. Alex's father was in Puerto Rico when it happened and they haven't heard from him since, and his mother was called in to the hospital where she works. Alex is afraid that since she hasn't contacted them that she died when there was a flood in the subway. All of a sudden, Alex realizes that he is the sole caregiver to his two sisters. He has no idea when his parents will be back (if ever) and he's terrified. People all around New York are dropping like flies. Bodies line the streets. People are going crazy trying to get their hands on food. Nothing that seemed important before is important now. All that matters is staying alive. And Alex is determined to care for his sisters and keep them alive no matter what. But is that really possible with what has happened to the Earth? Wow, this book was intense! It's scary in all ways possible. Reading about the bodies lining the streets of New York brought shivers to my spine. It's hard to explain in words how crazy this book is. If you like really intense books then this is definitely a story for you. Also, be sure to read Ms. Pfeffer's previous release, LIFE AS WE KNEW IT, which deals with the same issue that's discussed in this book but with different characters. I haven't read it yet, but I'm sure it's just as good and frightening as THE DEAD & THE GONE. Reviewed by: Breanna F.

Awsome

This is an great book. I read this one after having read her other book "Life as We Knew it" which is about the same incident. Definitely recommend to anyone. After I read it I gave it to my dad to read and he is 71. I know it is listed as a young adult book but I think that anybody who reads it will be inticed.

An amazing companion novel to LAWKI

I had the privilege to get an advanced reading copy and here is my review. Last year I read Life As We Knew It by the same author of this wonderful book. You can find the review for that book here. I enjoyed Life As We Knew It so much that when I heard about there being a companion book I jumped with joy. Being a companion book also means you don't have to have read Life As We Knew It to know what is going on. The Dead & the Gone is a completely separate story. The Dead & the Gone uses the same premise as Life As We Knew It, but takes place in a vastly different environment that creates some truly gruesome challenges for the main characters. Before we were in Pennsylvania away from large bodies of water, away from large cities, and away from practically all the major problems of an urban sprawl. The Dead & the Gone, however, is the exact opposite, taking place in New York City. An asteroid has struck the moon, pushing it into a closer orbit around the Earth and thrusting the Morales family into a grueling struggle for survival. With Alex's parents gone and presumed dead, he has to learn to take care of his younger sisters while keeping his faith in God. But New York City is not an easy place to live in when the electricity rarely works, fuel for stoves is in short supply, and a bitter winter caused by increased volcanic activity thrusts them into extreme cold, famine, and an epidemic. Once again I feel that Susan has done a fantastic job bringing forward a truly powerful and realistic story about survival. The only thing SF about this story, again, is the impact on the moon, but the world we're presented is a modern world. The strongest element in this companion novel is a religious element. In Life As We Knew It religion wasn't really a big deal, and in some ways it wasn't even part of the story. For The Dead & the Gone religion is practically everything. Alex is a catholic going to a catholic private school in a family of catholics. He's devout, his younger sister Bri is devout, and his youngest sister is religious, though not nearly as much as her siblings. This has to be stressed in my review because this story is partially a test of faith. How does one hold on to a belief in God when everything around you is falling apart and your prayers aren't being answered? When people start committing suicide or dying on the street and nobody bothers to pick them up and tkae them elsewhere for days, weeks, even months, how do you deal with that belief in God? Even though Alex never does lose his faith, he does battle with doubts and feelings that he feels may be sinful. He must do things that he wouldn't normally do and doesn't feel comfortable doing (such as taking the clothes and personal items off dead bodies in the street to barter for food or stealing from abandoned apartments to do the same). Alex is a strong character and a character you can't help looking up to. He's charged with taking care of his two sisters practically by himself. Un